South Jersey non-profit providing warm meals to those in need this Thanksgiving

CAMDEN, New Jersey (WPVI) -- Volunteers at the Cathedral Kitchen in Camden, New Jersey handed out Thanksgiving meals Thursday afternoon, helping the hungry, homeless and those struggling in life.

Some like Wallace Herron has recently fallen on hard times.

"I'm very grateful, very grateful. Thank God, I'm blessed. I'm alive and I'm here. It's been a struggle, one day at a time," said Herron.

Others like Roy Gilmore are regulars. Food pantries like this keep him from starving. He lost his job after hip replacement surgery.

"In Camden, if you go hungry, there's food everywhere, you just go look for it. That's what I have been doing," said Gilmore.

Cathedral Kitchen prepared roughly 350 meals. That is a little more than it does daily. Personal care bags with toothbrushes, lotion and other essentials were also handed out.

Spellman College alumni provided blankets to those in need.

"It's been an incredibly challenging year because unemployment is much higher here in Camden. And the pandemic has really caused that," said Carrie Kitchen-Santiago, the executive director of Cathedral Kitchen.

While unemployment is roughly double a year ago, she says food demand really hasn't increased likely due to fear of groups and catching COVID.

"We would expect in over the coming months and years even for the numbers to increase like the recession in 2008," said Kitchen-Santiago.